Ferrari F1 – Frederic Vasseur has chosen not to completely overturn his strategic department to avoid “alienating” the team.
Thursday is confirmation that Ferrari, in the person of Frederic Vasseur, has moved former head of strategy Inaki Rueda from the firing line, while Ravin Jain has taken on the high-pressure role for next season.
According to the journalist of Sky Sports F1 Ted Kravitz Vasseur would have preferred a calculated approach in his first decisions since taking charge of Ferrari.
“He would have cleared out the entire strategy department by hiring his old friend Ruth Buscombe, the British engineer who heads up strategy at Alfa Romeo Sauber,” said Kravitz.
“Nothing forbade it, thanks to the fact that Alfa Romeo Sauber is a sort of partner team for Ferrari. Had he wanted a new strategic group, he could have chosen the Sauber pit wall. The problem with such a move would have been the possible “alienation” of many people in Ferrari. He therefore preferred to rearrange some passages and some positions: Ravin Jain was the chief strategist and was promoted, Inaki Rueda the former head of strategy now moved to another role.
Rumors suggest that the decision to move Rueda into a factory role was already planned by former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto, and then implemented by his replacement Vasseur.
All the changes have been made in the wake of the strategic errors responsible, at least in part, for Ferrari’s capitulation in the 2022 championship.